US Steel Kosice (USSK) increased shipments 43% on-year in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 1.02 million net tons. Raw steel production surged 87% to 1.1mnt, with capacity utilisation at 87% versus 47% a year earlier, Kallanish notes.
Average realised sales price fell 20% on-year to $770/net ton. Despite this, net sales grew 13% to $823m and Ebitda turned to positive $3m versus a $48m loss a year earlier. The lower sales prices were partially offset by labour and spending efficiencies due to higher shipments, parent US Steel says. Meanwhile, iron ore, scrap, and alloy costs were lower.
Meanwhile, US Steel’s Flat-Rolled segment shipped 242,000nt of coal to USSK in Q4 versus zero a year earlier.
Hot and cold rolled coil accounted for 60% and 10% of shipments respectively, with coated coil comprising 20%. In terms of revenue, coated accounted for 35%, with semi-finished steel also appearing at 5%. Construction (34%), service centres (22%) and automotive (16%) were the main markets by volume.
In full-year 2023, USSK shipments rose 4% on-year to 3.9mnt, while raw steel output grew 14% to 4.4mnt, with capacity utilisation at 88% versus 77% a year earlier. Net sales fell 17% to $3.55 billion, while Ebitda was down 81% to $98m.
The Flat-Rolled segment shipped 874,000nt of coal to USSK in 2023, while a year earlier USSK sourced 144,000nt of iron ore from the segment.
Adam Smith Poland
